Category: Life

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure” – The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

As of 5/14/17

Age: 25

Net Worth: 30,000

As of 2/7/17

Age: 26

Net Worth: 60,000

Thoughts from the past 8 months:

The path to wealth is not working for someone else / in a corporation. Bringing products of value to fruition leads to true wealth.

If you bring something novel and useful to this world, something people need that they didn’t even know they needed, you will be handsomely rewarded both monetarily and spiritually.

My net worth has doubled, driven by favorable market movement, but I find myself drawn less toward a specific number and more toward fulfilling a purpose.

I’m shifting my focus from what to why. To quote Benjamin Hardy’s terrific article on Medium:

You get to decide right now.

Your vision should be based on your why, not so much yourwhat.

Your whyis your reason, your what is how that is manifest. And your “what” can happen in a ton of different ways. For example, my why is to help people get clarity on the life they want to live, and to help them achieve their goals as quickly as possible. My whatcould be blogging, parenting, being a student, going out to dinner, and several other things.

Too many people think creating a vision is about nailing down exactly whatthey want in the next 20 years. The problem with this mega long-term approach to goal setting is that it actually slows your potential.

Instead of having a pre-set plan of what he wants to do, Tim Ferriss executes on 3-6 month experiments that he’s currently excited about. He told Darren Hardy in an interview that he has no clue what the outcome of his experiments might be. So there’s no point in making long-term plans. He has no clue what doors will open up, and he wants to be open to the best possibilities.

But his why doesn’t change.

When you are proactively creating and collaborating with many different people, the whole becomes different and better than the sum of its parts. This is why you can’t plan for everything. Because at the highest level, you’ve transcended your need to have things exactly how you want them. You know that with the help of other people, you can do things 10X, 100X, or 1000X bigger and better than you could ever conceive on your own.

Rather than expecting a particular outcome, you are completely confident that the best outcome will ensue. This is how you create and contribute beyond anything you could ever comprehend. Collaboration and synergy lead to new innovations and ultimately, human evolution. It’s how the old and outdated rules are redefined and replaced with new and better ones, thus changing the global environment.

My “why” is to use technology to help people improve their lives and continually move toward a better version of themselves.

I am still drawn to the goal of having a net worth of $1,000,000 before 30, but that goal is now less relevant/important from eight months ago.

To close, I couldn’t have said it better than Jim Rohn did here:

“The greatest reward in becoming a millionaire is not the amount of money that you earn. It is the kind of person that you have to become to become a millionaire.” — Jim Rohn

Thanks for reading. I’ve listed the books I’ve read, will read, and am reading right now below.

(Hiked Alamere Falls last weekend! Great hike, highly recommended if you’re in the area.)

A short recap on the past two years.

I didn’t get a full time offer after my previous internship (executive compensation tech firm – blessing in disguise, I would have hated my job).

A few months after, I started at a healthcare consulting firm as an associate consultant.

A little under two years later, I’m not happy with what I’m doing, not performing to the peak of my ability/potential, and most importantly – I’m not learning.

I’m leaving the company next month, currently figuring out my next step.

This article in NY Times upshot really had me thinking about that next step.

The happiness literature has identified one of the most deeply satisfying human psychological states to be one called “flow.” It occurs when you are so immersed in an activity that you lose track of the passage of time. If you can land a job that enables you to experience substantial periods of flow, you will be among the most fortunate people on the planet. What’s more, as the years pass, you will almost surely develop deep expertise at whatever it is you’ve been doing.

Since graduating university, I have found “flow” when buying and selling cryptocurrency with Dogecoin and performing a variant of arbitrage on EVE to increase my net worth in ISK.

The things that drew me were:

trading

finding and executing deals

understanding financial topics

performing research to back my decisions, and being rewarded monetarily for my actions.

I’m posting again because I’m sick of passively digesting articles, staring at a screen thinking I’m learning. That’s not active learning. I want things to stick. I want to internalize what I’m reading/learning.

I still find it awesome that playing EVE opened my eyes to the possibility of using the same technique from in-game in real life. Truly amazing, or maybe I just wasn’t opening my eyes to it :P.

* * *

In other news, I just opened my Roth IRA with OptionsXpress. I expect to be at a higher tax bracket when I retire, so having a Roth vs a Traditional IRA would be beneficial for me. I’m also considering opening a Traditional IRA in order to take advantage of the tax deductible. It will also insulate me from the potential tax law fluctuations that may occur. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future.

But for now, I’ll just stick to the Roth IRA to keep things simple. Once I get the hang of things I’ll consider branching out.

Can I Contribute to a Roth and Traditional IRA in the Same Calendar Year?

The question then arises: how am I going to get my portfolio started? Given my age (20s) and that time is on my side, I’m considering doing an 80/20 spread of stocks/bonds. I may substitute bonds for ETFs (exchange traded funds). From my understanding, they are similar to mutual funds in that they spread the number of companies you are invested in (or go by an index, or go by a specific sector-ed index), but they are different in that they trade like a stock. Mutual funds trade once at the end of the market day, ETFs trade through the entire market day just like a stock. (I might even go for a 80/10/10 of stock/ETFs/Mutual Funds).

It’s a work in progress. I’ll keep updating about the status of my Roth Portfolio. Assuming I max my Roth IRA every year till I’m 65, and I average an 8% return on my investments, the account should be worth ~$1,538,795.72 {=FV(0.08,40,5500,0,1)}. A nice amount of money to have, although I’m still a little cloudy on how to adjust for inflation … Either way, the money I put in every month, is going to be $5500/12 = ~$460/month.

So, I’ll have two automatic payments set up bi-weekly (since I’m paid bi-weekly). $230 every other week to the Roth IRA, and $200.07 every other week to the $2800.01 left on the subsidized student loan. Not sure how to make the best of the rest of my paycheck. (Another automated payment would be the piece of my paycheck and the 3% match that goes to the company 401k, free $$$ aw yis)

I probably could write more about this personal finance thing I have going, but I should probably get ready for work tomorrow. 3 day weekend was nice.

* * *

Last part of this post.

Holy shit this was such a difficult thing to accomplish. Long story short, we bought the desk off some website and when it arrived it was damaged. The desk was 53″x 30″x 12″. The only box that fits something like that is a 60″ LCD TV box. We were lucky enough to spot one in a dumpster by Fry’s. Dumpster diving, I DUN IT.

I just finished my first full week of full time work. It was pretty awkward the first few days, but after those first few days things were more comfortable.

What I do in a nutshell: use company software to verify and update certain ‘products’ that eventually enter a large database to be drawn from with SQL/Access for custom/set products ordered by large companies regarding corporate governance/executive compensation/proxy advising/payment plans. It could be called something like data entry/analysis I suppose.

I basically spend a ton of time on investopedia trying to understand all the terms.

2. Valentines Day!

I went out with my friend and we had beers and watched Wolf on Wall Street; I can’t believe it lasted 3 hours. It definitely did not feel that long. Dicaprio without an Oscar again? Whats new. Jonah Hill didn’t deserve the Oscar imo.

3. Financial Updates!

Student Loan

As of 2/15/2014 4:00 PM

Principal: $2801.00

Subsidized: $2801.00 (3.4%)

Unsubsidized: $0 (6.8%)

Accrued Interest: $0

Total Owed: $2801.00

They fixed my end of school date… So I have my grace period until 06/14/2014 since I ended school around 12/14/2014.

Assuming I allocate the loan into 7 payments, (I’m paid bi-weekly) I could pay the loan off right about when my grace period would end. Although, this would require that I am offered a full time offer AND accept it.

Each payment would come out to ~$400.14. This is great since I can cover the dispersed loan payments and have more than enough left over for adding to the emergency fund.

Emergency Fund

It’s a “rule of thumb” that you should keep three to six months’ worth of expenses. Some even suggest keeping nine to twelve months due to the high rate of unemployment.

For me, I live at home, and I’m so astronomically lucky that my parents enjoy throwing money at me. In college, my mom used to call me every week to make sure I had enough money. Needless to say … I always did.

In fact, this constant influx of money probably delayed my understanding of how to appreciate and save money. Not to say that it isn’t my fault … but yeah. On top of this, my meals are all made for me. Mom makes breakfast, brown bag lunch, and dinner.

So, point being I’m not too sure how to allocate for my emergency fund. I don’t plan on living at home for any longer that I have to, and that hinges on whether or not I choose to pursue a full time career or pursue a graduate degree. I’ll write a post about this tomorrow most likely.

For now, I’m just going to put 15% of my bi-weekly paychecks toward an emergency fund that can grow on it’s own until I feel I have enough saved.

Current Investments (Real and Virtual)

Common Stocks

My portfolio with Optionshouse is a mish mash of speculation and lack of investment knowledge. But hey, it’s virtual money and I’m in the process of learning.

I recently learned what an option is. An option is the right, but not the obligation to purchase/sell a given security after a pre-determined period of time.

I plan to learn more about diversification and understanding the different vehicles available to me.

And if I choose to pursue a full time position at a company then obviously match my employer’s 401k contributions.

Opening a Roth IRA is in the near future as well, but I’ll save updates about these things for when I actually have the opportunity to open them.

Dogecoin

This is my current balance:

I’m very excited about the future of this cryptocurrency.

There a few “articles” written by “knowledgeable people” about the future of this currency.

There are also articles about the farce that dogecoin might be.

It’s difficult to understand all the aspects of the market, future, and other various factors that surround dogecoin. Although, I would venture to say that the vast majority of people acquainted with dogecoin would agree that it would fall under the category of risk capital.

I am willing to put money into investing in dogecoins (as I have). But I am not sure as to how much I should invest. One of the quotes from what I have read alluded to “insulating” yourself from the market by purchasing $5 worth of dogecoin daily. This practice may prove useful, but I’m still so ridiculously ‘green’ when it comes to investing.

“The views expressed on this website/blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.”

Okay.

* * *

My first day was full of meetings; they were all lined up from 9 AM till 12:30 PM then we took a break for lunch. After lunch it was meetings till 3:45 PM. After that I spent my time researching and understanding the pieces of information that were shared with me as well as familiarizing myself with the software that I would be using on a daily basis. The majority of my time is going to be spent in front of my two LCD screens analyzing and getting the results from what is assigned to me.

Basically, that is a lot of time in front of a computer screen.

Anyway, I got home and checked my dogecoin mining process! Quite happy with the results from my 2+ year old Radeon HD 6850!

I’m really giving some thought into building that rig. It would put me back more than $1000. I don’t even have the money, but if dogecoin value skyrockets … Maybe it’d be better to just buy dogecoin. I need to spend more time hashing the details out. I might just purchase some dogecoin as I just do not have the capital to justify building a mining rig as of now. C’est la vie.

On another note. I’m going to take a break from EVE. I have garnered the very basic idea/strategy of buying low and selling high. I plan to apply this tactic to a real world venture now. Somehow… More updates to come!